Doll



'W. C. J. MILLER.

DOLL. A'PPLICATION FILED OCT. 20.1919.

1,361,275, I Patented D60. 7, 1920.-

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. *7, 1920.

Application filed "October 20, 1919. serial to. 331,798.

To all to from it may concern:

Be it known that I, lViLLiAM C. J. MILLER, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Rockville Center, in the'county of Nassau and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dolls, of which the following is a specification.

T his invention relates to movable eyes for dolls and other toys representative of human or animal figures, and my improvements are directed to means permitting mechanical eyeballs to have universal movement whereby relative movements of the eyeballs with the head may occur with respect to any posture of the toy figure.

lVhile it has been common in the manufacture of dolls and the like to provide means for the eyes to have the semblance of closing as the figure is placed in a prone position, and of opening when the figure is brought to an upright position, I believe it to benew with me to provide means enabling the eyes, when the head of the figure is inclined to either side of the vertical-position, to have the effect of rolling, this effect being produced either when the figure is upright or-inelined toward a prone position.

The effect of opening and closing the eyes of adoll, as hitherto practised, has been achieved by means of pendulous attachments, which serve to maintain the eyeballs in their normal position while the figure is upright, plumb position of the eyeballs when the figure is laid prone, causes the pupil to disappear, to

convey the effect of eye closing.

In my improvement I resort to a horizontally pivotal, pendulous means for enabling the eyeball to retain its normal position by gravity while the figure is moved between the upright and prone positions, and I also, by transverse pivotal means and gravity influence, enable the eyeball to maintain its plumb position within the head of the figure containing the eyeballs and their mechanism while the head of the figure is inclined laterally in either direction. Thus, in a dollhead or the like, equipped with my improvements, the eyeballs will remain directed toward a fixed point while the figure containing these eyeballs is inclined either in vertical or lateral directions.

The pendulums which serve the respective eyeballs of a pair of eyes are connected by a pivotal bar which assists to coordinate and equalize their respective movements, and the horizontal pivot which carries both eyeballs of the pair to give them their vertical movement, has further individual pivotal connectron with said eyeballs, arranged perpendicularly to said horizontal pivot, to permit the lateral or rolling effect referred to.

Other features and advantages of my said invention will hereinafter appear.

In the drawing:

Figure l'is a rear vertical section of a dolls head, showing the eyeball actuating mechanism, and

Fig. 2 is a laterally tilted side sectional elevation of said mechanism, on the line 2, 2 f

' The heads of dolls and the like have long been known in the art to be equipped with pivotal. eyeballs that are weighted so'as to be enabled to remain fixed, by gravity, while the doll is moved from an upright to a prone position, so that the imprint or representation of the pupil and iris is caused tojdi'sappear, with the rearward inclination of the head, because the lower eyelid portion moves over and covers said imprint or representation in the act of the dolls head assuming a rearward inclination, and thus there is the semblance of the eyes closing, as in sleep, when the doll is laid upon its back.

It is the purpose of my inventionto supplement this effect of eye-closing with the effect of rolling the eyes, to thus afford a more animate expression to a dolls face, wherein, as the head is inclined to one side or the other, the eyes a're given the appearance of looking sidewise, or rolling.

In the example of the mechanism employed by me to achieve the above stated effects, let 1 indicate the head of a doll, which is hollow and thus capable of containing the mechanism, and which may be composed of any suitable material, and let 2 indicate the openings in the front or face portion of the head, for the eyes, the mouth opening, at 3, being also indicated to convey,'in the rear View of Fig. 1, a general idea of the facial characteristics.

Attached to an upper portion within the face portion 1, centrally thereof, is a frame member 4 which is here represented as a'pendent strip, as of metal, having, at opposite sides, the outwardly turned lugs 5, 5, said lugs serving the function of bearings for a horizontal shaft or pivotal member 6, the respective ends of said shaft, beyond the bearings, being looped outwardly, and terminating each in a shaft or pivot 7 that is perpendicular to shaft 6. The eyeballs, indicated at 8, which may represent the segment of a sphere, either solid or hollow, or which may be of any other suitable structure and contour, each have bearings 9, 10, by which they are mounted on a pivot 7, so that said eyeballs are capable of lateral movement, as

. well as having the vertical movement accorded them by the shaft 6. These different movements, however, it will be understood, are relative with respect to the dolls head, for in practice it is the head that moves While the eyeballs remain stationary. The bearings 10 are elongated in the form of a pendulum 11, which each have a weight 12 that is sufficiently heavy to hang plumb, and to cause the bearings 5, 5, and the bearings 9, 10 respectively to have movement about the pivots 6 and 7 as the head is inclined in the different directions. An equalizing bar 13 is pivotally connected at 14, 14:, with each of the pendulous members 11, to thus cause the relative movements between the eyeballs and head to be uniform in char.- aoter. member 4 has a central, rearwardly projecting extension 15, which is intended to act as a stop to limit the relative lateral movements of the pendulous members so that the latter may not come in contact with the inner surface of the head 1, to avoid binding engagement therewith, which might otherwise prevent free relative return movement of the mechanical parts.

The pupil and iris are so represented and located upon the eyeball members as to be in normal position relatively to the eye openings 2 when the doll is upright, as is usual with dolls having mechanical eyes, and to either disappear or furnish the rolling effect referred to, as the doll is inclined rearwardly or laterally, the pendulous mechanism which is responsible for these operations constituting means of universal movement, because the eyes are thereby rendered universally movable with relation to the dolls head.

It will also be noted that the frame Variations may be resorted to within the spirit and scope of my invention and parts thereof used without others.

I claim 1. In combination, a dolls head or the like, a frame secured within the face portion of said head, said frame having a bearing,

and a lower, rearwardly projecting extension of said frame to comprise a stop, a shaft horizontally mounted in said bearing, upper,

dual effects of eye-closing and eye-rolling,

said pendulous members co-acting with said stop to limit the degree of their lateral movements respectively. I

2. In combination, a dolls head or the like, a frame secured within the face portion of said head, said frame having a bearing, and a lower, rearwardly projecting extension of said frame to comprise a stop, a shaft horizontally mounted in said bearing, upper, looped extensions of said shaft comprising pivots whose axes are perpendicular to the axis of said shaft, eye balls mounted respectively on said pivots, a weighted pendulous extension from each eye ball, where by said eye balls have relative movement with the head, both with the horizontal shaft and about said pivots to afford thedual effects of eye-closing and eye-rolling, said pendulous members co-acting with said stop to limit the degree of their lateral move ments respectively, and a transverse bar in pivotal engagement with both said pendulous members to synchronize. the relative movements of the eye balls with respect to the head.

Signed at borough of Manhattan in the city, county and State of New York this 18th day of October, A. D. 1919.

WVILLIAM C. J. MILLER. 

